Landline-based telecommunications services have been available to customers for more than 100 years. However, rural areas still exist in the United States and other parts of the world where landline-based services are unavailable. The primary reason for this is that the number of potential customers in these areas does not justify the cost of providing and maintaining landline-based services. Similarly, cellular communications services are unavailable in some rural areas because of the lack of cellular communications towers and other infrastructure. Again, the primary reason for the lack of towers and other infrastructure is that the number of potential customers in these areas does not justify the cost of providing and maintaining towers and infrastructure.
The lack of telecommunications services deprives people in these areas from accessing the Internet. There have been several attempts by various government agencies and communities to entice telecommunications service providers to provide telecommunications services in these areas. Unfortunately, these efforts have been generally unsuccessful and may actually delay new product growth and revenue generation for telecommunications companies.
Moreover, there are areas in the United States and other parts of the world where there has been an erosion of landline-based services as a result of competition from providers of wireless, satellite and cable telecommunications services. The availability of wireless, satellite and cable telecommunications services provides customers with additional service choices and is driving down the cost to the customer of telecommunications services. Also, the need for multiple landlines has diminished because Internet connectivity can be provided without blocking access to dial tone. Unfortunately, efforts by landline telecommunications service providers to stem the erosion of numbers of landlines and landline telecommunications services have been somewhat unsuccessful. Currently, strategies by landline telecommunications service providers are focused on adding application and service bundles to retain customers, which does not address customers whose primary focus remains cost, availability and flexibility.
Broadband services available via telecommunications systems enable rapid download of documents via email, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and file transmission protocol (FTP). Future broadband services will include interactive near real time products, including voice, entertainment, gaming and information services. These new services will require roaming capability to enable ubiquitous service. If a broadband service is interrupted or unavailable in a certain location, a loss of revenue will likely result. Unfortunately, affordable wireless broadband service in some areas is not available. As such, this lack of availability may delay the adoption of higher value services and revenues.